Tag Archives: spend

Over the past two decades, advertisers have gradually shifted their budgets away from traditional media (e.g. TV, newspapers and magazines) towards online ads. The rise of the smartphone has only accelerated this shift, as smartphones have fundamentally changed the way that people consume content. Ad dollars have always followed eyeballs and thus it doesn’t come as a surprise that mobile ad spending is currently growing a breathtaking rate.

One consequence of the shift towards online advertising is the fact that fewer companies command a larger share of advertising dollars spent. In fact, two companies, you may know them by the names of Google and Facebook, are so dominant in the online world that they account for more than 60 percent of global online ad revenues. According to advertising research company WARC that means the market leaders in search and social media will pocket 1 in 4 dollars spent on media advertising worldwide this year.

Creating content is the top goal for marketing pros around the world. According to figures compiled by communications and marketing agency Cognito, 61 percent of the 165 marketing leaders they interviewed for a survey named creating content as the area where more of their marketing budget will be invested in 2018. This makes sense, as in the previous report only 18 percent of respondents were happy with the content they could market.

Investor relations (71 percent) and public affairs (69 percent) featured in the two top positions of areas where investment will remain the same. The top loser according to the survey will be traditional advertising, with 40 percent of marketing leaders wanting to invest less.

These developments could have negative implications for traditional media outlets, as the volume of content published or disseminated by company marketers could more strongly compete with traditional publishing content. Diverting dollars from traditional advertising could also negatively affect heritage media ad revenue. This chart was first published by our partner FIPP.

From closing costs to basic home prep projects like carpet cleaning and staging, homeowners can spend between $10,000 and $55,000 to sell a house, depending on location

Seattle and San Frncisco – May 18, 2017 (PRNewswire) Nationally, U.S. homeowners spend $15,190 on average in extra or hidden costs associated with selling their home, according to a new analysis from Zillow® and Thumbtack(i). Since most (63 percent) of today’s sellers have never sold a home before, some of these costs could come as a surprise(ii).

To help with budgeting, Zillow and Thumbtack calculated several common, but often overlooked, seller expenses including sales taxes and agent commissions, as well as five optional home prep projects.

More than eight out of 10 home sellers make improvements before listing(iii). While some sellers prefer to complete these projects themselves, those who outsource can expect to spend more than $2,650 nationally to cover staging, carpet cleaning, interior painting, lawn care and house cleaning – five of the most popular seller home prep projects. Labor costs vary significantly by region, so sellers in Los Angeles pay an average of $4,000 for the same projects, compared to sellers in Columbus, Ohio, who pay $1,500.

The two largest closing costs are agent commissions and in most states, sales or transfer taxes. Nationally, sellers spend $12,532 for both closing costs on the median home. Since they are percentages of the home’s sale price, sellers in hot coastal markets like San Francisco pay $51,520 on the median home, the highest of the metros analyzed. Sellers in Indianapolis pay the least ($8,238) as home values are lower and the state has no transfer tax.

From title insurance to escrow fees, sellers are responsible for a variety of other smaller closing costs. Even though selling a home costs money, most (73 percent) sellers are still satisfied with the transaction(iv). To estimate potential profit, sellers can use Zillow’s Sale Proceeds Calculator. It factors in the home’s sale price, mortgage balance and agent commissions, along with other common seller fees.

“One of the biggest regrets sellers have is not starting the process early enough,” says Jeremy Wacksman, Zillow Group chief marketing officer. “For those planning to sell this year, take your time to research all the costs you could be responsible for and how they may affect your profit, or even budget for your next home. Partner with a great agent who can help you understand the nuances in your market – from what taxes or closing costs you should expect, to which home renovation projects can help attract the right buyer.”

“Sellers need to consider these additional, often necessary costs when planning to put their home on the market,” says Lucas Puente, Thumbtack economist. “While it’s clear these costs vary widely, often times the easiest way to ensure a home is fully prepared to be sold is to hire local, skilled professionals to help with basic home projects.”

More information about Zillow and Thumbtack’s Hidden Costs of Selling Report is available on Zillow’s blog, Porchlight.

Zillow

Zillow® is the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge around the place they call home, and connecting them with the best local professionals who can help. Zillow serves the full lifecycle of owning and living in a home: buying, selling, renting, financing, remodeling and more. In addition to Zillow.com®, Zillow operates the most popular suite of mobile real estate apps, with more than two dozen apps across all major platforms. Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group (NASDAQ: Z and ZG) and headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow and Zillow.com are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc.

Thumbtack

Thumbtack is a local services marketplace that connects customers who need to get things done with local professionals who can help. From plumbers and painters to DJs and personal trainers, Thumbtack helps millions of customers find the right professional for their project in over 1,000 categories. This translates to more than $1 billion in annual revenue for our professionals across the U.S., helping them grow their businesses on their own terms. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco, Thumbtack is backed by over $250 million in investment from Sequoia Capital, Google Capital, Tiger Global Management, Javelin Investment Partners and Baillie Gifford.

i Zillow and Thumbtack’s Hidden Costs of Selling report factored in closing costs (transfer taxes and agent commotions) and several basic home prep costs. Zillow computed transfer taxes by using the tax rate for the primary state within each metro area (in cases where metro areas cross one or more state lines), which were then applied to the median home value for that area. Zillow also assumed 6 percent for real estate agent commissions and applied it to the median home value for each metro area. For the basic seller home prep costs, Thumbtack looked at tens of thousands of quotes from small business professionals around the country and determined the average cost for each expense within the selected metros. For the purposes of this analysis, carpet cleaning, interior painting, lawn care, home staging and house cleaning were identified as five of the most popular home maintenance-related projects completed by Thumbtack users prior to selling a home.

Basic living expenses, like mortgage payments and child care, cost families significantly more in urban vs. suburban neighborhoods, according to Zillow and Care.com

Seattle, WA and Waltham, MA -March 6, 2017 (PRNewswire) City living comes with a premium in most major metros, especially for families with kids. Nationally, families spend an average of $9,073 more per year to cover basic housing and child care costs in the city than in the suburbs, according to a new Cost of Living analysis from Zillow and Care.com (NYSE: CRCM; www.care.com), the world’s largest online platform for finding and managing family care.(i)

To help with budgeting this home-shopping season, Zillow and Care.com identified three common living expenses (property taxes, mortgage payments and child care costs based on rates listed on Care.com) and calculated how much they cost around the country.

Nationally, families living in the city spend $43,652 a year on housing and child care. Yet, in the suburbs they spend just $34,579. New York, Chicago and Dallas have the highest variance between urban and suburban living, with city dwellers paying as much as $71,237 more a year, or nearly $6,000 extra a month. However, city living is not always more expensive. In Philadelphia and Baltimore, families could pay up to $14,000 more a year to live in the suburbs.

While high property taxes and rising home prices are usually the reasons why city living is more expensive, child care can also play a part. In Minneapolis, child care is nearly $4,119 more a year in the city, but housing costs are actually $189 cheaper.

“Deciding whether to live in the city or suburbs is a personal choice, but when you do the math, it’s easy to see why moving to the suburbs is about more than just a bigger yard – it can also save you a lot of money,” says Svenja Gudell, Zillow chief economist. “More than a third of families exceed their initial budget when buying a home, according to the Zillow® Group Consumer Trends Report, so before embarking on a move, consider the cost of living beyond just the home’s sticker price.”

In addition to potentially cheaper living costs, the median suburban home is nearly 280 square feet larger. Meanwhile, reported commute times are roughly the same between urban and suburban residents.(ii)

“Figuring out where your family will live and grow is arguably one of the most exciting and daunting times in a parent’s life,” added Joyce Hodel, data scientist at Care.com. “While moving to the suburbs often brings significant cost savings, city living can still be the right choice for some families and is less expensive in certain metro areas. The Care.com and Zillow Cost of Living Report aims to help families understand how their family’s housing and child care costs may change before making that big family move.”

Zillow

Zillow® is the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge around the place they call home, and connecting them with the best local professionals who can help. Zillow serves the full lifecycle of owning and living in a home: buying, selling, renting, financing and more. In addition to Zillow.com®, Zillow operates the most popular suite of mobile real estate apps, with more than two dozen apps across all major platforms. Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group (NASDAQ: Z and ZG) and headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow and Zillow.com are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc.

Care.com

Since launching in 2007, Care.com (NYSE: CRCM) has been committed to solving the complex care challenges that impact families, caregivers, employers, and care service companies. Today, Care.com is the world’s largest online destination for finding and managing family care, with 12.4 million families and 9.6 million caregivers* across 19 countries, including the U.S., UK, Canada and parts of Western Europe, and approximately 1.1 million employees of corporate clients having access to our services. Spanning child care to senior care, pet care, housekeeping and more, Care.com provides a sweeping array of services for families and caregivers to find, manage and pay for care or find employment. These include: a comprehensive suite of safety tools and resources members may use to help make more informed hiring decisions – such as third-party background check services, monitored messaging, and tips on hiring best practices; easy ways for caregivers to be paid online or via mobile app; and Care.com Benefits, including the household payroll and tax services provided by Care.com HomePay and the Benefit Bucks program, a peer-to-peer pooled, portable benefits platform funded by household employer contributions which provides caregivers access to professional benefits. For enterprise clients, Care.com builds customized benefits packages covering child care, back up care and senior care consulting services through its Care@Work business, and serves care businesses with marketing and recruiting support. To connect families further, Care.com acquired community platforms Big Tent and Kinsights in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Care.com has offices in Berlin, Austin, New York City and the San Francisco Bay area.

*As of September 2016

(i) The Zillow and Care.com Cost of Living Report measured how much families could expect to spend on housing and child care in urban and suburban locations around the country. Zillow’s housing costs factored in annual mortgage payment and property taxes on the median valued home. Annual child care costs are based on rates listed in Care.com child care center profiles in 2016 for two children in the same center. Weekly rates are multiplied by 52 weeks and monthly rates are multiplied by 12 months to calculate annual rates. All Urban and suburban classifications were based off a Zillow survey of U.S. consumers. Survey responses were then used to create a statistical model to predict the classification for a given zip code.

(ii) To calculate the median size of homes in each community, Zillow took the median finished interior square feet of homes in the urban and suburban zip codes for each metro area. Zillow computed commute times by taking the median commute times by zip code as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau’s 5-year American Community Survey, which pools data from surveys between 2011 and 2015, and then took the median commute time across suburban and urban communities in each of these zip codes.

Over the past decade, digital advertising has grown to become a huge business. Companies such as Google and Facebook rake in $10+ billion a year selling ad space on their various platforms and, just as the market as a whole, they show no signs of slowing down.

According to data from Statista’s Digital Market Outlook, search advertising is the largest piece of the digital advertising pie with global revenues amounting to $91 billion this year. Banner advertising ranks second with $43.5 billion in estimated revenue.

Statista’s analysts expect the digital ad market to grow at an average rate of 10.9 percent over the next five years, with social media and video advertising outpacing the overall market’s growth. For more insights and digital advertising trends, download the free market report “Digital Advertising: Banner”.

One of the golden rules of advertising is to always follow the eyeballs. And since many of us have our eyes fixed on our smartphones most of the time, it’s no surprise that advertising budgets are shifting to mobile devices as well.

According to Zenith’s latest global advertising forecast, advertisers will spend an additional $75 billion a year on mobile ads in 2018 compared to last year. By then, mobile devices will have overtaken the desktop internet to become the second-largest advertising medium behind television. Zenith expects annual mobile advertising spending to reach $128 billion a year by 2018, well ahead of the $91 billion expected to be spent on desktop internet ads.

This chart shows the estimated change in annual ad spending between 2015 and 2018.